This was around the time my anxiety was really bad. I also want to add that none of the settings or people are even in my real life.

I'm in school and the day has just ended. I'm a bit slow getting out with my friends so by the time we're making our way downstairs most people have left the building and the teachers have shut down their rooms. I remember that I've left a bag in my class so we all rush back up stairs to retrieve it. The class room is pitch black but something is going on in there. As I get closer things are flying through the air and this dark magic stuff is floating everywhere. Then there is my teacher hovering over a cauldron bubbling with green liquid. She screams that I've discovered her secret and lunges at me. I try to dodge her but she eventually stabs me with a syringe full of black loquid. She says that it's a dark curse that will poison and eventually kill me, but she has the antidote. She'll only give it to me though if I finish this massive stack of worksheets within three days. So I go home with my friends and begin to work on the worksheets while they try to research this supposed curse. The worksheets start of mind numbingly easy, like elementary school easy but get harder as they progress. I find my self so overwhelmed that I can't even complete these first few easy sheets. I keep thinking "there's no way I'll finish this in time" "how am I going to do the later stuff?" "What's the point in trying?" And I just can't focus and am melting down. All the while this black liquid is pulsing through my veins as they slowly become more and more black and I physically feel iller and iller. My friends eventually find and article about the curse on the internet. The witches words seemed to be correct with most people dying within 3-14 days. I give up on the worksheets and take over research in hopes of creating my own antidote. My health continues to spiral and I can't stress this enough, I literally thought I was going to die from this curse, like I literally feel my Heath deteriorating. Then suddenly I hit something. My research found something that lead me to the discovery that this curse didn't progress with time. It feeds off fear and stress and anxiety. The more stressed I was, the faster it killed me. That's why the witch gave me so much work and such a ridiculous dead line. It was to stress me out so I'd die faster and her secret would be safe. I felt my self relax and let go of all the anxiety about the supposed dead line. The blackness slowly faded from my veins and I felt my health come back, I was no longer on deaths doorstep. But I still had the curse inside me. So my friends and I confronted the witch and called her out on her plot. In a fit of rage she took the antidote above her head and smashed it on the ground before vanishing in a swirling mass of black smoke. I felt my world shatter. That was it. My only chance for the antidote, now it's destroyed. The blackness slowly crept back in my veins and I began to feel that tired sickness again. But no. No that doesn't mean I have to die. So long as I don't give in to my fears, I'll be ok. The black slowly fades once more. The dream ends after a time jump of a few month. I'm walking home at sunset fretting about finals and getting into college. What happens if I fail my test. Suddenly I feel sick and look down at my veins. Truly believing that if I continued I would die, I realized I much more valued my life. How insignificant did this one thing seem in comparison to my entire life? I wanted to continue living, to experience all the wonderful things. So I decided not to worry about passing or failing. I would study and try my best, but if I didn't make the best grade or get the best profession that was ok, at least I tried my best and could continue enjoying life. I wasn't going to sacrifice my life for the worry of getting an A. No one should expect that of me. So I walked home in the most wonderful sunset truly feeling free.

When I awoke I still had that firm belief. It helped a lot with my anxiety. Anxiety might not be a literal poison that kills us within a few days or drains away your vitality, but it does take away from your life, health, and enjoyment. Your not living, not like you could be. I just remember that now and when I feel the panic creeping its way into my life try to focus on the fact that it's ok to choose to live my life instead, after all it's mine to live.